


Dizzy Spells

by reysrose



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex Danvers is the Fun Mom, Canon Divergent, Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fainting, Fever, Good Mom Eliza Danvers, Headaches & Migraines, Nothing after season 3 happened, Pneumonia, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Postviral Syndromes, Ruby Arias Is Everyone's Favorite Kid, Thanksgiving Dinner, Vomiting, needle mention, pots - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28178796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reysrose/pseuds/reysrose
Summary: Lena has been having the same health problems in secret since she was 15. A nasty bout of the flu causes a flare and her new family helps her figure it out.
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias & Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias & Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias/Alex Danvers
Comments: 10
Kudos: 182





	Dizzy Spells

It starts when she’s 15. The migraines, the dizziness, the throbbing joints. Lillian brushes it off as childish weakness and woman troubles, even when Lena is too sick to move. She gets used to having a spinning head, to her feet turning a purpley-red color when she showers or stands too long, to a racing heart and awful neck pain and sore hips and knees. It’s been 12 years since it started and she’s still never sought treatment because at this point, it’s been her normal for nearly half her life. For the most part she has it under control, but when she gets sick it’s another level of hell. 

It’s the first time she’s been sick with anything beyond a sinus infection since meeting Kara, and it’s bad. Firstly, it’s Thanksgiving weekend, and they’re in Midvale when she wakes up sick. Secondly, her symptoms are awful. High fever, vomiting, an awful, thick cough deep in her chest. She can’t breathe through her nose, either. Eliza takes one look at her and pronounces it the flu, reprimanding Lena gently when Lena reveals that she didn’t get her flu shot when Alex and Ruby did. She curls up tighter into her blankets on Eliza’s couch, staring tiredly at the Macy’s Day Parade playing on the TV. Kara is at the grocery store with Alex and Ruby for some sisterly/niecely/daughterly bonding, so Sam is keeping an eye on her. Lena is grumpy about it, because she feels very much like she doesn’t need to be babysat. 

“You need to drink,” Sam says, running her hands through Lena’s sweaty hair, “And take some more Tylenol.”

“M’fine,” she mumbles into Sam’s leggings, curling an arm around her stomach. Her heart is racing like it does when she doesn’t drink enough or stands up too fast or runs the shower too hot. She’s starting to feel sick again, but she’s warm and exhausted and maybe if she just sleeps she won’t have to drag herself to the bathroom to throw up some more. 

“Come on,” Sam murmurs, pressing the straw to Lena’s mouth. It’s Pedialyte, and it’s too sweet for her suddenly. Her stomach lurches, and she scrambles off the couch and staggers to the bathroom, but it’s too far and she’s not going to make it. Eliza is peeling carrots on the counter when Lena hunches over the kitchen sink. 

“Oh, honey,” Eliza murmurs, and then there’s a hand in her tangled hair and the water is running. 

“Sorry,” Lena croaks, once she’s finished and the vomit has been washed down the drain. Eliza is still holding her hair back with one hand and rubbing her back with the other, but Lena’s head is spinning and her heart is beating so hard she can see her shirt moving and she feels unstable so she sinks to the cold tiles of the kitchen.

“Lena,” Eliza says, cupping her face, “Lena, look at me, honey.”

“I’m tired,” she rasps. Eliza guides her head between her knees and then she hears the door open.

“Lena, baby!” she hears Kara yelp in alarm, “Oh god, your heart is racing. Mom?”

“I think it might be worth going to the ER,” Eliza says, as Alex and Sam try to keep Ruby out of the kitchen. To even her own shock, Lena nods. She feels terrible, and generally when she’s this sick she does end up in the ER needing an IV or something. She presses her forehead into Kara’s stomach, and closes her eyes. She keeps her eyes closed as Kara puts her shoes on and carries her to the car, and while they sit in the waiting room of the Midvale ER. She only opens them once the anti-nausea meds the nice nurse pushes through her IV kick in. 

“I’m sorry,” Lena slurs to Eliza and Kara, mostly dormant Irish accent thick in her fatigue and fever, “It’s Thanksgiving and we’re here and it’s my fault.”

“Never apologize for being sick, honey,” Eliza murmurs, as Kara smoothes her hair back and rewets the cool cloth the nurses had brought. Lena sighs in relief when the cloth presses against her overheated skin. 

“Wasn’t allowed,” she mumbles, knowing she’s oversharing but too tired and sick to care about it, “Lillian said-” Lena gags miserably and then Eliza holds a basin for her to get sick in with such care and worry that Lena bursts into tears. 

“Whatever Lillian said,” Kara says sternly, “was bullshit and you know it.”

“Yeah,” Lena sniffles weakly, “Mkay.” 

They’re home in three hours, in time to eat dinner. Lena feels a lot better after a couple of bags of fluids and some IV zofran. Turns out she also had pneumonia, and they gave her a nebulizer treatment and antibiotics. She manages some broth Eliza made and some mashed potatoes, falling asleep while they watch a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. 

She still feels kind of awful, even after finishing her antibiotics, but it happens. Sometimes with bad bugs she can feel extra weak and dizzy for a month at least. She goes back to work, even though Alex and Eliza both force her to work shorter days than her normal. Game nights and movie nights progress as usual, even though Lena doesn’t participate in drinking wine. She misses a few of Ruby’s soccer games because it’s too cold for her still healing lungs to deal with and feels immensely guilty, so she decides that on Ruby’s first day of Christmas break she’s taking the afternoon off to spend with her. Alex is tagging along too, because Sam is at a conference and Alex is using some very built up vacation time to spend time with her kid.

It seems like a great idea until the day of. Lena wakes up shivering, even though Kara is wrapped around her like a superheated weighted blanket. She has to pause and sit very still on the side of the bed to keep herself from collapsing, and there’s no way she can take a shower. She washes her face and then sits on the floor with her mirror to do her makeup and put her hair up. Raising her arms over her head makes her feel nauseous. She picks at the oatmeal Kara makes.

“Lena, you have to eat,” Kara says. Lena takes a few halfhearted bites and offers her girlfriend a weak smile. Kara kisses her temple, frowning and stroking Lena’s loose hair from her face. 

“You’re clammy,” Kara murmurs with a frown, “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

“I’m okay, promise,” Lena says, standing and kissing Kara gently. She ignores how her vision goes spotty when she puts on her shoes and walks down to catch her car to LCorp, how exhausted she is by the time she gets to her office. Lena sinks into her chair and asks her assistant to get her a coffee. 

By the time noon rolls around and Alex lets Lena know that she and Ruby are on their way, Lena feels like she’s run a marathon. Her eyes are stinging with exhaustion and her neck is tight, the sensation of pain running down through her left shoulder. They’re supposed to go ice skating but Lena isn’t sure she could even walk down the hall to the elevator right now. She rests her forehead on her desk. Maybe once she eats she’ll feel better. Sometimes eating helps (sometimes it makes it worse). 

“Aunt Lena!” Ruby crows, bursting through Lena’s door. Ruby gives her an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek cheerfully as Alex comes in through the door Ruby left swinging open. Lena smiles at them both and logs out of her laptop, carefully shutting it down as Ruby opens the drawer of the minibar with the secret candy stash in it and snatches a fun size bag of M&Ms. 

“Save it for after lunch, Rubes,” Alex says, and Ruby puts it in her pocket with a pout. Lena closes her computer and slides her heels back on, then stands up and instantly regrets it. 

The world begins to tilt, and Lena feels herself go hot and cold all over. She takes a few shaky steps, willing herself forward as her hearing starts to go fuzzy and her face tingles. She’s going to pass out. 

“Lena?” Alex asks, suddenly on alert. Lena puts a hand on her window and shakes her head to trt and steady herself. Her stomach rolls and a shiver runs up her spine. She’s not in her body, not fully, at least. 

“Aunt Lena?” Ruby asks, voice shaking. Lena opens her mouth to reassure her that she’s fine but then one leg gives way and Lena falls to her knees on her carpet. She tries to brace herself on her hands but she’s shaking too hard.

“Hey, hey. Come on, kiddo, let’s get that head between our knees. Ruby, sweetie, can you go get some water?”

There’s the sound of panicked feet running out of her office and Alex rubs the back of Lena’s neck. Lena pants, but her head between her knees isn’t helping the dizziness and her head is starting to throb behind her right eye, a sharp ice pick of pain through her skull. Double whammy. Fuck.

“Is this helping, Lena?” Alex murmurs, scratching her nails against Lena’s scalp. Lena shakes her head and Alex kisses her temple reassuringly. 

“Okay, honey. Let’s lay down then, okay?”

“I’m sorry,” Lena croaks, once she’s laying on her side with her head in Alex’s lap because she’s too shaky and scared to not be touching someone right now, “We had plans.”

“Lena, it’s fine. Deep breaths. Your heart rate is really high and we need to get it down.” 

Ruby swims into Lena’s line of vision as she sits by Lena’s head cross legged and hands Alex a bottle of water. 

“You think you can sit up?” Alex asks, and Lena nods tiredly. Alex props her against the wall and hands her the water. She takes a shaky sip and tries to ignore how awful she still feels. Ruby looks terrified.

“Rubes, I’m okay,” Lena rasps, “Don’t worry. This happens sometimes, okay?”

“Happens sometimes?” Alex asks sharply, “What do you mean, sometimes, Lena?”

“Just get dizzy a lot,” Lena says, taking another sip, “And the migraines and stuff. Being sick makes it worse.”

“Lena.” Alex says, “How much is a lot.” Alex is not asking. Alex is telling Lena to answer, and Lena is exhausted and dizzy and too tired to keep her walls up so she does.

“Always a little dizzy,” Lena says, “Standing up is hard. Showers. Sometimes eating. Just-dizzy. Heart beats really fast sometimes. Don’t normally pass out, though. Just gotta lay down.” 

Alex looks worried. Lena tries to smile at her but she’s so icky and it doesn’t work.

“Okay, you’re going home, and Ruby and I will hang with you and we can watch a movie. And in the morning we’re finding you a cardiologist.”

“Why a cardiologist,” Lena asks mindlessly. 

“Because I think I know what this is.”

Alex holds her up as they walk to the parking garage, Ruby holding her hand tightly.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” Lena murmurs to the girl. Ruby nods. 

“It’s okay, Aunt Lena,” Ruby says, squeezing her hand, “What movie do you want to watch?”

They end up watching Christmas Vacation, because Ruby has never seen it and Alex is taking the opportunity to show her without Sam’s veto. Alex orders in pho and Lena feels somewhat better after they eat and even better after Alex makes her chug a Gatorade. 

When Kara comes home they’re watching Nickolodeon and Alex and Ruby are working on making cut out cookies. Lena is wrapped in her favorite blanket, scrolling through Instagram, and she stands up with only minimal dizziness to go press a kiss to Kara’s mouth.

“Sam said she’ll be over soon,” Kara says, “Are you feeling better, baby?” 

“Yeah,” Lena says into Kara’s shoulder, curling into her warmth, “a lot better now that you’re here.” 

Alex explains what happened to Kara as Lena distracts Ruby. She had to watch the episode happen, the poor kid doesn’t need to hear it in detail. Sam gets home at the end and Alex has to explain it all again. Lena is tired, and she curls up on the couch and pushes her face into a cushion. 

“We’ll fix it,” Sam says quietly as Alex and Ruby do the dishes and Kara showers, braiding Lena’s loose hair, “You fixed me when I was Reign.”

“Unless you’re magically a cardiologist I don’t think that’s up to you,” Lena mumbles into the blanket she pulls over her face. 

“Don’t be so depressing,” Sam teases, and Lena smiles despite herself, “We’ll get this figured out.” 

“Promise?” Lena whispers.

“Promise,” Sam says.


End file.
